Bahrain dominated the court yesterday, defeating Iran 28-24 in the final match of Group B to advance to the semi-finals of the Asian Men’s Handball Qualification Tournament for the 2024 Paris Olympics in Doha, Qatar.
Both teams were tied on four points, effectively advancing to the quarter-finals, with the winner joining top-ranked Japan, who had already secured a place in the top four, as the second team in a five-team group. .
The Kingdom team got off to a strong start and led 16-12 at halftime. Iran came back strong in the second half and equaled Bahrain’s 12 goals in the final 30 minutes, but the four-goal advantage they conceded in the first half was their enemy.
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In a reenactment of the Asian Games handball final held earlier this month, Bahrain will face host nation Qatar, who topped Group A with five consecutive wins in the first semifinal (compared to five teams in Group B). 6 teams). They won 32-25 and won the gold medal.
“I’m very happy to have reached the semi-finals,” Bahrain head coach Aaron Kristjansson told GDN over the phone from Doha.
“Iran, a very strong team, also had an extra day of rest due to their tournament schedule, so we knew this was going to be a tough game. I knew what was going to happen, so I expected it to be a tough battle.
“It was very tight at the beginning, but we were fortunate enough to play aggressively and get a four-point lead at the end of the first half.”
However, Kristiansson added that the players’ intensity seemed to drop at the beginning of the second half.
“When the second half started, our tempo was too low,” he explained.
“We couldn’t score for a while and Iran took too many fast breaks. But in the end we were able to increase the tempo of our attack and we were able to defend well as well.”
Kristjansson continued that the most pleasing aspect of the victory was that many of the players on the bench were able to play and put in a good performance.
“They did a very, very good job,” he said.
“It’s rare to have this many players available in a tournament like this, and I’m very happy that they did what they needed to do to help us win.”
Kristiansson added that the team’s attention will now turn to the all-important semi-final against Qatar.
“We have already started preparing for that important match,” he said.
The match is scheduled to start at 5pm Bahrain time.